Of course, Freesat isn’t the only satellite service available in Europe, but it’s the only ‘free to air’ service that’s made any real progress here in the UK, so that was our first port of call. We yanked the cable out of our Sky+ box and switched it over to the EyeTV 310 and were able to pick up Freesat without too much trouble. ![]() This allows you to connect it to the feed from a Freesat satellite dish or from a comparable satellite system such as a Sky+ box. In addition to its Firewire interface, the EyeTV 310 also has an antenna connector that can accept an RG-6 coaxial satellite cable. ![]() The quality of the recordings is good, the software (EyeTV 1.8 or 2.1) is way better than EskapeLabs' myPVR, and I absolutely love the ability to cut out commercials off a recording. Apple has dropped Firewire from the new MacBook models that it released recently - though not the more expensive MacBook Pro - and seems to be losing interest in Firewire altogether, which doesn’t augur well for the EyeTV 310’s long-term future. The EyeTV application has a medium CPU usage of around 30 when encoding to MPEG2 at 720 x 480 which is excellent when compared to the 50+ used by the EskapeLabs. They even look identical, except for the paint-job Device Details as seen from WinTV32: Model 65018 Rev. In a brief reboot to Windows tonight, I discovered that the Elgato device is recognised as a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-900. In fact, you won’t be using it with the new MacBooks at all, as the EyeTV 310 uses a Firewire interface to connect to the host machine, rather than the USB port used by most conventional TV tuners. I recently purchased an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid, on the basis of it having great Mac OS X software (EyeTV). That means you won’t be slipping it into your bag so that you can watch TV when you’re on the road with your MacBook laptop. Instead of the compact design of the EyeTV DTT, the 310 looks like a small set-top box, measuring 220 x 155 x 3.6mm. It’s also the most expensive product in the EyeTV range, costing a somewhat eye-watering £240, compared to just £40 for the EyeTV DTT. ![]() However, the EyeTV 310 is one of the few digital satellite tuners that we’ve seen designed for use with personal computers – and the only one available for the Mac. ![]() Most of the EyeTV range consists of conventional TV tuners – such as the recently reviewed EyeTV DTT and EyeTV Deluxe – that allow you to watch and record terrestrial TV channels, either analogue or digital, on your computer. Elgato's EyeTV 310: now available over here
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